Tynwald had voted through radical changes to the way parliamentary order papers are prepared.

The changes to the laying of papers, tabling of questions for written answer and the scrutiny of subordinate legislation will come in after the general election.

They were recommended by Tynwald’s standing orders committee whose chairman, Speaker Juan Watterson, said: ’It’s been wonderful to sit with fellow geeks on parliamentary procedure.’

The committee’s report notes: ’The current system of preparing the order paper and the process of laying papers before Tynwald is based on a system which predates the internet and the use of electronic submissions to Tynwald.

’The publication of complex material is linked to the order paper for the next sitting of Tynwald; a significant disadvantage of this arrangement is that all papers are published at the last possible moment before the sitting when they will be considered, irrespective of their length or complexity.’

The principal change is a move away from the traditional use of the order paper as the first source of information for members and the public about government business and private members’ motions.

Instead, a new ’register of business’ will be created on the Tynwald website with papers being lodged at any time and not just in the fortnight in advance of a parliamentary sitting.

The rolling register would be added to constantly and it will allow politicians and the public to have formal access to the information at the same time.

Mr Watterson said in the future people will be far more keen look at the register than at the order paper because it will be ’all the new stuff’.

debate

Items for debate should be published on the register at least six weeks before they are due to be considered in Tynwald, the report proposals.

Bill Shimmins (Middle) said this was a ’retrograde step’. He described some of the proposals as a ’sledgehammer to crack a nut’.

There is also a new process for written questions, which would no longer need to relate to a specific sitting; they would be answered all year round, independently of the calendar for the chamber sittings.

Recognising the pressure on civil servants and others in relation to answering Tynwald questions, there will be a set period within which they are answered.

A practical impact of this change is that there would be little point in submitting written questions in the legislative branches and so the plan is for them to be no longer taken in the branches.

Only one change is proposed to the procedure for submitting oral questions - that the deadline for submitting them is moved from 5pm to midday to allow slightly more time for them to be considered and prepared for publication.

The standing orders committee report says the current system for examining subordinate legislation is completely insufficient for matters of great importance or significant complexity.

By introducing a register of business it will become the normal practice for all subordinate legislation to be lodged in the preliminary form of a proposed text at the earliest opportunity.

They would not be formally laid and debated until members have had sufficient time to read and digest them.

No changes are made to the budget procedure with the Speaker describing that as a ’bridge too far’.

Treasury Minister Alfred Cannan said he was seriously concerned at the report’s ramifications.

And Education Minister Dr Alex Allinson said he found it ’overly complicated’.

But Tynwald voted unanimously for the creation of a register of business and overwhelmingly supported the report’s other recommendations.